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Ideas for 'The Roots of Reference', 'The Evolution of Logic' and 'The Approach to Metaphysics'

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4 ideas

1. Philosophy / C. History of Philosophy / 4. Later European Philosophy / c. Eighteenth century philosophy
13466 We are all post-Kantians, because he set the current agenda for philosophy [Hart,WD]
     Full Idea: We are all post-Kantians, ...because Kant set an agenda for philosophy that we are still working through.
     From: William D. Hart (The Evolution of Logic [2010], 2)
     A reaction: Hart says that the main agenda is set by Kant's desire to defend the principle of sufficient reason against Hume's attack on causation. I would take it more generally to be the assessment of metaphysics, and of a priori knowledge.
1. Philosophy / D. Nature of Philosophy / 5. Aims of Philosophy / d. Philosophy as puzzles
13477 The problems are the monuments of philosophy [Hart,WD]
     Full Idea: The real monuments of philosophy are its problems.
     From: William D. Hart (The Evolution of Logic [2010], 2)
     A reaction: Presumably he means '....rather than its solutions'. No other subject would be very happy with that sort of claim. Compare Idea 8243. A complaint against analytic philosophy is that it has achieved no consensus at all.
1. Philosophy / E. Nature of Metaphysics / 4. Metaphysics as Science
14799 Metaphysics rests on observations, but ones so common we hardly notice them [Peirce]
     Full Idea: Metaphysics really rests on observations, whether consciously or not. The only reason this is not recognised is that it rests upon kinds of phenomena with which every man's experience is so saturated that he pays no particular attention to them.
     From: Charles Sanders Peirce (The Approach to Metaphysics [1898], p.311)
     A reaction: I think this is entirely right. I would say that the only thing that distinguishes metaphysical thought is its extreme level of generality, which makes it very hard to substantiate, because it is so remote from its evidential base.
1. Philosophy / F. Analytic Philosophy / 6. Logical Analysis
13515 To study abstract problems, some knowledge of set theory is essential [Hart,WD]
     Full Idea: By now, no education in abstract pursuits is adequate without some familiarity with sets.
     From: William D. Hart (The Evolution of Logic [2010], 10)
     A reaction: A heart-sinking observation for those who aspire to study metaphysics and modality. The question is, what will count as 'some' familiarity? Are only professional logicians now allowed to be proper philosophers?